We are in love with these chocolate truffles. These chocolate truffles are rich, creamy and smooth. After years of making chocolate truffles with chocolate and cream, we stumbled across a recipe that replaces the cream and uses egg yolks instead. Bowl after bowl of decadent melted chocolate and lots of truffles later, we’ve come to the conclusion that this, without fail, is the best chocolate truffles recipe.

How to Make the Best Chocolate Truffles

The inspiration for these truffles comes from Alice Medrich. She’s a chocolate genius! We’ve shared our love of her recipes before. Take a look at our spin on these Fudgy Cocoa Brownies.

There are lots of chocolate truffles recipes out there and they often call for the same ingredients: Chocolate and cream. This recipe is a little different. Instead of heavy cream, we mix egg yolks and butter into melted bittersweet chocolate. The egg and butter make the texture of the truffles far superior to the truffles made with cream. Everyone we’ve shared them with absolutely fall in love with them.

For the best chocolate truffles, use high quality chocolate. Look for chocolate that’s around 60% Cacao or more. A few brands we love using in our own kitchen are Ghirardelli, Callebaut, and Scharffen Berger.

Since we don’t want to add raw egg to our truffles, we add one quick step. We whisk the egg yolks with boiling water before adding to the chocolate. This step makes sure that the eggs are brought up to an appropriate temperature (160 degrees F), making the safe to eat.

The truffles are very easy to make and can be made two ways: by hand or with a food processor. You’ll find instructions for both methods below in the recipe. The truffles made in the food processor are a little creamier than those made by hand.

Recipe updated, originally posted December 2012. Since posting this in 2013, we have tweaked the recipe to be more clear and added a quick recipe video. – Adam and Joanne

Heavenly Dark Chocolate Truffles Recipe

PREP 2hr 15mins

COOK 10mins

TOTAL 2hr 25mins

After a series of tests, bowl after bowl of decadent melted chocolate and lots of truffles later, we’ve come to the conclusion that this, without fail, is the best dark chocolate truffles recipe. They’re rich, creamy and smooth. The recipe below has been inspired and adapted (slightly) from Alice Medrich’s House Truffles Recipe. The recipe can be found in many of her cookbooks. Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts is one of our favorites.

There are two methods you can choose from when making these truffles: By hand or with the help of a food processor. Both are easy to do. You’ll find instructions for both methods below. The truffles made in the food processor are a little creamier.

Directions

Line an 8-inch square pan with aluminum foil so that the bottom and sides are covered.

Add chopped chocolate, butter, and the salt to a medium heat-safe bowl. Place a medium saucepan half-full with water over low heat. Heat the water until barely simmering.

Rest the bowl with chocolate and butter on top of saucepan. Heat the chocolate and butter, stirring frequently, until completely melted; about 5 minutes. When the chocolate is melted, smooth and very warm, remove the bowl from the heat and place onto a work surface. If you have a thermometer handy, the temperature of the chocolate mixture should be between 120 and 130 degrees F.

Prepare Egg

Meanwhile, bring 1/2 cup of water to a boil. Whisk the egg yolks in a medium bowl. While whisking, slowly stream the hot water into the yolks. (Adding the water slowly makes sure that the eggs do not scramble).

To Finish by Hand

Beat the melted chocolate and butter a few times with a whisk then place a fine mesh strainer over the mixture. Pour 1/3 of the egg mixture through the strainer and into the bowl, beat with whisk until incorporated then repeat with remaining egg mixture.

Beat about 10 times, scrape the bowl, and then beat 20 to 30 more times until the chocolate mixture has thickened slightly and looks like shiny chocolate pudding. Scrape the chocolate truffle mixture into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Refrigerate until firm. About 2 hours.

To Finish Using a Food Processor

Scrape melted chocolate and butter into the bowl of a food processor. Place a fine mesh strainer over the food processor bowl. Then, pour the egg mixture through the strainer. Process the mixture for 10 seconds, then scrape the bowl and process again for 20 seconds or until the chocolate mixture has thickened slightly and looks like shiny chocolate pudding. Scrape the chocolate truffle mixture into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Refrigerate until firm. About 2 hours.

Shape Truffles

When shaping the truffles, there are two options. Leave them as squares or roll into balls. To cut into squares, remove the pan with firm cold truffle mixture from refrigerator then invert onto a cutting board and remove foil. Then use a heavy knife to cut into 1-inch squares (or smaller, if you prefer). Add cocoa powder to a medium bowl then toss the truffle squares in the cocoa until coated.

For round truffles, dust your hands with cocoa powder then roll each 1-inch truffle square into a ball and toss in cocoa powder until coated.
Store truffles in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Adam and Joanne's Tips

We’re terrible at remembering to bring eggs to room temperature, so here’s a trick: Place the egg yolks into a small bowl then set the bowl into a slightly larger bowl filled with hot water. The hot water should heat the eggs just enough to count as “room temperature.”

Double Boiler: To melt the chocolate and butter, you will need to make a double boiler. To do this, grab a medium saucepan and fill half-full with water. Find a medium to large heatproof bowl that’s big enough to fit the chocolate and butter. Then, rest the empty bowl on top of the saucepan to check that the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl. If it does, remove some water.

Nutrition facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA Supertracker recipe calculator to calculate approximate values.

If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #inspiredtaste — We love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste

Hello, I just made these with 73% dark chocolate. I stirred them for 10 minutes and my candy thermometer only got up to 80 degrees. Should I have kept the mixture over the heat longer? What happens if it doesn’t reach 120-130 degrees? They are chilling In the fridge now. hopefully it still works. Thanks for the recipe!

Hi Lora, This is making sure the chocolate is completely melted into the butter. You should be just fine, though. If anything, the texture may be a little less smooth than ours. (The truffles should still be delicious, though!)

Yes, 70% chocolate will work. When melting the chocolate the double boiler method helps prevent too much heat from getting to the chocolate so it melts very slowly. Doing this in a saucepan works perfectly fine, just be careful to do it over low heat and slowly. Happy truffle making!

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